Durban | Tuesday
FIVE men, facing 11 charges of fraud worth almost half a million dollars, sold soap and Vaseline as charms to people hoping to win South Africa’s national lottery, a court heard on Monday.
In one of a series of scams, the accused allegedly sold muti (magic medicine) which they said could help people win the jackpot.
They also claimed to be able to improve their victims’ love lives and get them jobs, using the name of a famous traditional healer and saying they were working with a number of such practitioners, prosecuting council said.
Investigations disclosed that the “muti” consisted of Sunlight Soap, Vaseline and mixed herbs.
Police arrested the five men, accused of running several “get rich quick” schemes, in 2000. The suspects allegedly stashed away about five million rand ($434 000 /500 000 euros).
In another fraudulent offer, job seekers were promised employment with overseas companies, once they had paid between R300 and R500 ($26 and $44 /30 and 50 euros) for identity cards, application forms and administration fees.
The accused are Sibusiso Khumalo (22) Boikokobetsa Letsaba (24) Bhekisisa Mthethwa (33) Phakamile Shange (21) and Raymond Mkhize (29).
Police were tipped off by an official at the Johannesburg Post Office after she queried an address on thousands of envelopes which proved to be fictitious.
A member of the Scorpions investigations unit said he had spotted one of the accused at a post office with 160 such letters. Police said the man told him the letters were for people looking for jobs abroad.
A subsequent search of the suspect’s house turned up postal box keys, batches of letters and documents explaining how the business was being operated, police said. The four other men were subsequently arrested. – AFP